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Chinese Government backed Bright Food is understood to be the party which has been in negotiations with Silver Fern to take a stake in the NZ meat company.

Bright is a wholly Government-owned State Owned Enterprise.

But the negotiating vehicle is understood to one of Bright’s four listed subsidiaries. One of those subsidiaries – Bright Dairy & Food – took a majority stake in Canterbury milk processor Synlait Milk for $82 million in 2010.

Late last week speculation suggested the proposed deal would be announced today by Silver Fern Farms. . .

An attempted robbery was thwarted by an angry Waikato farmer who chased down the not-so-clever burglars wearing his undies and his gumboots.

Fed-up with continued thefts from his and neighbouring farms, Ohaupo farmer Arnold Reekers was forced into action in the early hours of Sunday morning when he heard his quad bike beeping as the thieves attempted to hot-wire the vehicle.

And despite having a knife pulled on him by the would-be thieves, Reekers wouldn’t hesitate to do it again saying continued thefts would drive farmers to take up arms despite pleas from the police for people not to take matters into their own hands. . .

Softer overseas demand for New Zealand sheepmeat – particularly out of China – which has curtailed New Zealand sheepmeat producers’ returns in recent months, has largely been driven by decline in demand for the forequarter portion of the carcase, says agribusiness specialist Rabobank in a recently-released report.

The report, New Zealand Sheepmeat: Maximising the Cut – Breaking It All Down, says it is important for producers to understand the breakdown of the animal and market demand for specific products as it ultimately determines the farmgate price.

“While farmers are paid on a per head or per kilogramme basis, the price they receive is calculated from the summation of all the products derived from the animal – from the extensive array of cuts, to the offal, co-products, skin and wool,” says report author and animal protein analyst, Matthew Costello. . .

The Government is considering speeding up foreign investment decisions, butFinance Minister Bill English is giving a cast-iron guarantee the rules won’t be watered down.

The Overseas Investment Office (OIO) considers whether to approve high-value and sensitive land investments from overseas buyers. It then makes a recommendation to the Government, which ultimately decides whether the sale can proceed.

The most high-profile sale currently before the OIO is the 14,000ha Lochinver Station, which China’s Shanghai Pengxin wants to buy. The application has been held up for more than a year, but the Government is finally close to deciding whether it will go ahead. . .

AsureQuality posted a 9% drop in 2015 annual profit and expects a further decline in 2016 as the state-owned food safety company steps up investment for future growth.

Profit fell to $11.4 million in the 12 months ended June 30, from $12.5m a year earlier, the Auckland-based state-owned enterprise said in a statement posted on the Treasury website. It expects profit to decline further to $10.6m in 2016 before increasing to $12m in 2017, according to its 2015-2018 statement of corporate intent. . .

Organic food is booming right now, as more and more people choose what they perceive to be healthier, more environmentally friendly food.

But a new study published in the June issue of Agriculture and Human Values suggests that organic farming, as it currently stands, is not as sustainable as it could be, and when done on a large scale, even produces more greenhouse gases (“GHGs” are heat-trapping compounds that contribute to climate change) than its conventional counterpart.

To determine the difference in emissions of organic agriculture versus conventional, University of Oregon researcher Julius McGee used state-level data, available through the United States Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency, that showed agricultural GHG emissions from 49 states from 2000 to 2008. . . Hat tip: Utopia

Recent high-profile contamination scares within the international food industry have highlighted the need for best practice when it comes to dairy manufacturing. After 15 years of research into dairy biofilms, there is now a cornerstone publication for a better understanding of the current science, and ways to reduce the occurrence of biofilms associated with dairy manufacturing.

Biofilms in the Dairy Industry provides a comprehensive overview of biofilm-related issues currently facing the New Zealand and international dairy sector. . .

Queen Elizabeth II passes the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria today who reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes.

But Queen Victoria’s reign was three years shorter in New Zealand – she technically only became our ruler when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed – meaning Queen Elizabeth actually became New Zealand’s longest-reigning monarch back in 2013. . .

How long she’s served is largely a matter of luck.

How well she’s served is a credit to her.

It’s also a reflection on her dedication to the job which comes with many privileges but is extremely demanding both because of and in spite of that.

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. . .The ultimate purpose of public policy is to help people live better lives, now and into the future. To this end, good policy focuses on ensuring that the wellbeing-generating capacity of capital assets is sustained or enhanced, and shared, which is to say: not eroded by current generations at the expense of future generations (sustainability); is shared in a manner consistent with sustaining or enhancing the capital base (equity); that no particular social group(s) impose their concepts of wellbeing on others, respecting others’ rights to live the kinds of lives they have reason to value (social cohesion); that comprehensive wealth is protected against major systemic risks (resilience); and that the material wellbeing generating potential of capital assets is enhanced (to underpin the economy’s capacity to sustain higher growth). . . – Girol Karacaoglu in The New Zealand Treasury’s Living Standards Framework – Exploring a Stylised Model.